News and Trends

• Praxair Distribution closed 15 acquisitions in 2008
  Praxair Distribution Inc. completed 15 acquisitions in 2008, including five purchases in the fourth quarter alone. The industrial gases distributor, based in Danbury, Conn., added almost $90 million in annual revenues from the 2008 acquisitions. "Our acquisition program over the past two years has been very successful and remains an important part of our overall growth strategy," said President George Ristevski. Industrial Distribution online (1/21), Modern Distribution Management (1/21)     

• Automotive suppliers impacted by 2008 drop in auto sales
  Automotive distributors are feeling the pain from contracting automobile sales in 2008. General Motors saw worldwide sales drop 11% in 2008, while Toyota's sales dipped about 5% for the year. Total vehicle production dropped 16% for North America in 2008, although Mexico's overall vehicle production increased 4%. Modern Distribution Management (1/21)     

• Canadian wholesale sales dipped 1.6% in November
  Canada's wholesale sales dipped 1.6% in the month of November, after dropping 1.8% in October, according to a new report. "The decline in sales reflected both lower export demand for Canadian goods, a significant part of which flows through wholesale markets, and weaker sales in Canada," said the report from Statistics Canada. CBC.ca (Canada) (1/21), Bloomberg (1/21), Google/The Canadian Press (1/21)     

• Grocers & suppliers face conflict over food prices
  Supervalu Inc. and A&P operator Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. are both bracing for tense negotiations over food prices with suppliers. Grocery stores would like to cut retail prices because customers have less money to spend on food items during the recession. "Grocery stores would like to get lower wholesale prices so they can sell lower at retail because they aren't competitive with Wal-Mart," said independent supermarket consultant David J. Livingston. The Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones Newswires (1/21)     

• Other News

• Grainger invites 1,400 customers to Florida MRO event
  Industrial Distribution online (1/21)     

• Sysco CEO Richard J. Schnieders to retire in June
  Modern Distribution Management (1/21)     

Best Practices

• Creative alternatives to downsizing in the downturn
  Instead of simply downsizing in response to the economy, companies can take some strategic steps to creatively revitalize profit, according to an expert. Suggestions include identifying the "super-loser" accounts in the best market niches and working to transform them from "lead accounts into golden ones," as well as signing up two to five of your most profitable customers to be advisers in helping to rethink and rebuild service for that niche. Modern Distribution Management (1/21), The Merrifield Consulting Group (1/1)     

• Six tips for maximizing your search engine optimization efforts
  Even in tough times, search engine marketing continues to deliver solid results. A list of six key tactics that can help boost those efforts includes getting rid of navigation barriers that can stall search-engine spiders, checking your code for errors that will send spiders away, and using unique titles and descriptions for every page on your site. E-Commerce Times (1/21)     

Sales

• Customer satisfaction is king during a downturn
  One thing that is certain is that the economy will eventually turn around, and one of the most important priorities for companies in the interim should be their customers. Protect your customer base to make sure they are satisfied and stay on top of how happy customers truly are with your company. American City Business Journals (1/19)     

Hot Topics

Top five news stories selected by NAW SmartBrief readers in the past week.

• Distributors can use key financial metrics during recession (Industrial Distribution online)

• Wolseley seeks to raise as much as $925M in cash (The Telegraph (London))

• Help your sales team stay motivated during the downturn (Manage Smarter)

• Building materials supplier Wolseley in talks to raise capital (The Wall Street Journal)

• Technological innovations that could transform the world in next decade (Forbes)

• Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.

Small Business Manager

• Cutbacks should not snip away at customer service
  Businesses looking to cut costs to cope with the economy need to exercise care not to negatively impact customer service. To do that, businesses should make changes based on customer feedback, reward employees for providing excellent customer service and give extra attention to the needs of top customers. BusinessWeek.com/Today's Tip blog (1/21)     

Sponsored Content

Executive Life

• Go green when you're on the road
  Next time you take a trip, consider renting a hybrid vehicle, or better yet walk to nearby destinations. Those are just a couple of tips CNN offers for helping preserve the environment while you are on the go. CNN (1/16)     

• South Africa is new hot spot for wine
  South Africa has become a terrific source for moderately priced cabernet sauvignon that is neither too plush nor too fruity. Many are around 14% to 14.5% alcohol, but don't feel too heavy because they are so well balanced. NYTimes.com (1/21)     

NAW Insider

Weekly Poll

• Which continent's wine do you buy most often?
  After voting once, check out the real-time poll results on NAW's All Access page as often as you'd like.

	Europe
	North America
	South America
	Australia
	Africa
	Asia
	I don't buy wine.

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SmartQuote

There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm." --Willa Cather, American author, from "The Song of the Lark"